Monkey Wrench

Hey, Sup guys. I started a sketchbook here many years ago but lost the drive to keep up with posting cause of school. I'm determined to post everyday now while trying to build a strong portfolio over the next couple years. I would really appreciate it if you guys would give some firm feedback, I really want to push my design and painting skills far in order to get a job in Video Game design.

I really like the firetailed girl, she is cool and has a nice design. I would like to see her taken further.

I see you are struggling some with using digital brushes. There is definitely a learning curve with them.
I really like this guy's videos, he definitely helped me to figure out how to better use brushes.

Watch digital painting 101, and do all the practice exercises he gives.

@greyskill. Thanks. I'm planning to take her digital and do a coloured version. Yeah, ended up just using one brush that I used for blocking for the entire thing. I was reading up on a tutorial that said it's better to use a harsher brush then transition to a softer one for details. Problem is there are so many custom brushes it's so easy to get overwhelmed. Thanks for the link!

Today's update! Work in progress of a painting,some unfinished designs i'm still working on and sketches and some tonal studies to get ready for grey scale painting. Trying to think of everything in shapes.

hey dude thanks for looking at my stuff i replied already but my computers freaking out and not sure if it posted so ill just try and repeat what i said, cant wait to see your character design develop looks really interesting and that inked creature head is awesome it reminds me of Cthulhu really nice stuff man

Yeah there really are way too many brushes out there, that I why I always keep things simple.
I only use my own brushes, unless I really need one for a certain effect eg. watercolor.
Mainly I restrict myself to the soft round and hard round brushes with their spacing turned way down. I think that most people use a soft brush and then change to a hard brush for details. The soft brush helps to get smooth gradients and transitions, and then the hard brush can be used for small sharp details. Honestly though, you could use either of them exclusively and get a good painting, especially if you used the selection lasso...

Anyway, I am rambling, I really came here to drop off a paintover I just did.
I hope this was okay for me to do. If not, I can delete this post. XD

Okay, main rundown of what I did.
The most important thing I did was shifting the balance. I moved the hips and legs back and the head forward.

Second, I changed the width of the shoulders and hips to make her look more feminine. Also, shadows don't really fall all the way around the breasts, especially when they are covered. There are some folds and then the fabric just naturally drapes around them.

Third, I softened the facial features and reduced the neck size and arm lengths a bit. The were all too long and made her look too manly. The sternum was a bit over rendered as well.

A good rule of thumb for arm length is that elbows should fall around where the bellybutton is, and if they are lifted they naturally arc along from the bellybutton. Also, the when an arm is hanging naturally, the fingers sit just above mid thigh.

Lastly, a tail would come out of someones pelvis where their tailbone is, so it is actually pretty high up.
Man, I actually wish I was finishing this painting, heh...
Sorry if this post was too long... XD

So yeah, sweet concept, just some tweaks and you will be on track.
Keep rocking on, keep posting! =]